Greyhound 5

December 19, 2024 Update

Built and christened, now time to launch! Two more miniboats have been added to the Columbia River Maritime Museum fleet.

Following ten weeks of directed in-classroom instruction by Olive DelSol, the museum’s Boat Educator, the christening ceremony brought together nearly 150 people to celebrate before the boats are loaded and launched into the Pacific. The morning ceremony included refreshments, photo opportunities, maritime traditions, and students sharing
about their experiences.

“The miniboat program was interesting because we got to do lots of hands-on things that we usually don’t get to do in school,” one Gaston student remarked.

Gaston Elementary 5th graders christened S/V Greyhound 5.
Wallace Elementary 5th graders christened S/V Wolverine.

In addition to the classrooms that built the boats, Wallace’s entire 5th grade attended as well as Jewell Elementary School’s 5th/6th grade classroom, a miniboat host classroom from school year 2023-2024. There were many family members in attendance to christen these vessels into the fleet and support their youth’s project.

“We are building a miniboat community,” Katy Menne, Education Director shared.

Both will be launched by NYK’s Pluto Leader, a roll-on roll-off carrier, outbound from the Port of Vancouver next week. These uncrewed miniboats are equipped with GPS trackers that anyone can access and follow on their journey.

“Greyhound 5 and Wolverine will be launched together. This gives students a chance to hypothesize whether the boats will travel the same path and brainstorm why or why not,” DelSol comments. “We got a chance to vote for the launch site. The number one choice for both schools was southwest of the Aleutian Islands, the second choice was off the east
coast of Japan.”

December 27, 2024 – Delivered to the NYK Lines Ship

The Wolverine and Greyhound 5 were delivered to the docks and boarded the NYK’s Pluto Leader. They were received by Captain Charlie V. Zapanta. There are a couple planned stops in California before they make their trans-pacific crossing. Stay tuned for deployment updates in the coming days!